


Strangers Like Me

by theministerskat



Category: Outlander & Related Fandoms, Outlander Series - Diana Gabaldon
Genre: F/M, tarzan au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-21
Updated: 2019-04-21
Packaged: 2020-01-23 04:17:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 531
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18542098
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theministerskat/pseuds/theministerskat
Summary: Claire Beauchamp tries to capture that final detail of the man who has swung into her life.





	Strangers Like Me

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Soloh](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Soloh/gifts).



> A little ficlet that fulfills the Lallybroch Library Scavenger Hunt 2019 prompt: Write a piece of fan fiction that includes a mention of The Lallybroch Library.
> 
> Written for the amazingly talented @lady-o-ren aka Soloh.

Claire sat perched on the edge of the cot, legs drawn up to her chest. Propped up on her knees was a sketchbook, and the tips of her fingers were smudged grey from the small bit of lead she held. With a practiced hand, she continued to draw the pencil across the paper.

Her movements stilled after a moment to take in the small adjustments she had made to his eyes. “Still not right,” she mumbled under her breath as she stared down at it.

She glanced up at him for the dozenth time, her own eyes knowing exactly where to find him in the large tent. He had been sitting with uncle Lamb for near on an hour, completely enamored with the latter’s zoetrope. Around and around it spun, but his eyes - the ones she had tried over and over to translate on paper - never left the mark from where he viewed the animated motion.

Claire was determined to capture the essence of him. But without perfecting his eyes, it would be a complete waste.

They were the first thing she had noticed when she had met him in the jungle just the week before. The way they had studied her, complete shock and awe radiating from him. How they seemingly penetrated her soul each time he had looked at her since, as though he could see beyond her simple physical characteristics to the depths of who she was.

It was an odd thing for her to come across a man who was so willing to listen and observe. Her years in academia had made her resent many of the men around her; she always had to speak louder and be more forceful than she would have wanted. But with Jamie it was entirely different.

She wasn’t a fool, she knew his curiosity and willingness to listen to her came from never having interacted with another human being before. And all of their possessions were new to him, awe enveloping his looks as he tested each one out for himself. But she wouldn’t deny how wonderful it was to be able to teach without being questioned or interrupted.

He had been teaching her the last few days also. Showing her what life had been like for him over the last two decades. It was amazing to witness the skills he had learned in order to survive, and the family he had found among the animals of the jungle.

She hoped that he would return with them to England once they left. But a large part of her knew he wouldn’t. And because of that she wanted to remember everything about him. Take a piece of him back with her.

It was a seemingly impossible task. How do you show the true being of a man in just lead and paper? He was so much more than that. Not a thing to be studied, or have a book written about him only to sit idle on the shelves of great libraries like the one at Lallybroch.

A soft sigh escaped across her lips, and the sound of it drew his eyes towards her, once again, piercing her soul, and her heart.


End file.
